Evan Clendenin 7/8/26 Evan Clendenin 7/8/26

Ascension-tide Sermon, by John Creasy

Acts 1:6-14

1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

1:7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

1:9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

1:10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.

1:11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

1:13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

1:14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

How far is heaven from earth? How separate is the physical world from the spiritual? How separate is the profane from the sacred? Here’s another question… have you ever had an experience where God felt extremely close? Have you ever had a mystical experience. Maybe it was your conversion experience, maybe in your baptism, for many people it is through subtle but powerful experiences of God in the natural world.

In our scripture the disciples are interested in one thing… the restoration of the Israelite kingdom. That’s what they were hoping for all along… that’s what they thought Jesus would do when he rode a donkey into Jerusalem. But… they were disappointed when he was killed on a cross, when their hopes and dreams came crashing down. Then Jesus reappeared, he had risen! And so their hopes for a restored kingdom were restored! I love Jesus’ response here, basically he says we can’t know about those things… it’s all up to God and God’s not telling his secrets.

The disciples instead will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, that’s not what they asked for, but it’s what God had planned. The power of the holy spirit. For the disciples, this was a first time experience. God’s spirit would ignite the lives of the disciples and this would be far better than a restored Jerusalem, far better than an overthrow of the Roman Empire. God’s Spirit would equip the apostles to bear witness to Jesus throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and throughout all the world! This was the purpose of Jesus, the the restoration of everything.

Then… the impossible happens. The physical body of Jesus ascends to Heaven.

This is the ascension.

I grew up in a Christian tradition that celebrated Easter as the pinnacle of the salvation story. Next of importance was Good Friday. The death and resurrection of Jesus were paramount to the salvation of humanity. That’s all good… but maybe the bookends of Jesus’s life are just as important… if not more. The incarnation and the ascension.

For me, the incarnation and the ascension of Jesus demonstrate Christ’s redemption of all creation. Lets first think for a minute about the incarnation… about Christmas and its meaning. In my evangelical upbringing Christmas was not very important. I mean, sure, it was for all the kids and families, but theologically I was told that Christmas was way less important than Good Friday and Easter. In Eastern Orthodox theology the incarnation is paramount. God becomes fully human, fully descending to the physical. God becomes dust. Can we just let that sink in for a moment? The creator of all… the I AM… the one who is in all, through all, with all… became the same as us all… a body made of carbon, nitrogen, cells and organs. The God of the universe became the universe by becoming one human being. I can’t explain it. We can only dwell with this miracle and have faith that it is true.

Just as we all remember that we were made of dust and we will return to dust on Good Friday, God is formed of the dust of the earth. What this means for all creation cannot be under-stated!

The miracle of the incarnation is made complete in the ascension. In the ascension the dust of the earth… as the body of Jesus… is raised up to God. God becoming one with all creation through the body of one human being leads me to believe that all of creation just might be raised up to God, united with God, restored and redeemed. The ascension of Jesus’ body is the union of all that is physical with all that is Divine. Sit with that for a while… maybe the rest of your life.

The Angels explain that there’s no reason for the disciples to stand looking up to heaven, looking for Jesus to come back down, or something. But they do say that Jesus will return in the same way he just left. We can read about a foreshadowing of this return in Revelation when God comes to earth and Jerusalem is raised up at the same time and they meet. God and the earth meet halfway. Again, demonstrating the kingdom of God bringing unity and redemption to the physical world. In Revelation, again, just like in the ascension, heaven and earth meet and are made one.

The disciples are transformed by this vision… this idea that Jesus ascended and will return. They are to bring this incredible news to all the world. And so… they pray. This is the right response. They get it right this time. The disciples, including the men and the women, devote themselves to prayer… to inner transformation. They are transformed by their experience of Jesus’ ascension. And that inner transformation through prayer leads them to proclaim the good news throughout all the world!

How are you changed by the cosmic, universal, grandiose vision of the ascension of Jesus. The disciples received the “power of the holy spirit.” You have the power of the holy spirit to bring good news to all of creation! I think the response of the disciples is our best response when we realize just how big this good new is. Prayer. And just like the disciples prayer and inner transformation lead to works of good news in this world.

How far is heaven from earth? How separate is the physical the world from the spiritual? How separate is the profane from the sacred? The ascension answers these questions.

There is no separation.

Evan Clendenin 6/4/26 Evan Clendenin 6/4/26

Descending to What’s Good

We haven’t posted in a while, it’s been a busy late winter and spring for two part-timers on this earth and church ministry project. So much good to see. But, we’ve done some pulpit supply and guest preaching along the way, so over the next few months we’ll share some sermons here for you to ponder.

A sermon is more than just a written text-it’s a physical, breath-moved event at a specific time and place on earth in a community and worship setting. It emerges from careful, ongoing listening for God within scripture, prayer, relationships, community, society and the wider creation.

And hopefully a sermon invites and encourages deepened prayer and contemplation, truthful conversation, energy, imagination, recognition, good next steps for persons and community grounded in God’s word and spirit, and faith, hope and love. I hope that sermons help us ‘see more’ of the world where God has placed us, and begin to discern honestly for ourselves, and in community, how God calls you to live.

So, may these sermons be practical encouragements in trusting in the presence of God, growing in prayer, and discerning step by step your faithful, compassionate, courageous work with God. (And maybe they can be just be further examples and contributions among many others to preaching, writing, speaking & listening that opens hearts to God’s restorative work in all creation.)

1st Sunday After Pentecost, May 31, 2026,Bethany Lutheran, Spanaway, WA

Putting the Lawn in Order, or Descending to the Good,

The Rev. Evan Graham Clendenin

Lectionary Readings Link

*Tahoma, as revealed to one at Bethany Lutheran, Trinity Sunday 2026*

Blessings and much thanks to you all on this 1st Sunday after Pentecost. Thank you for having me here to be with you for worship, to pray together, to celebrate the sacrament of communion together, and to listen for words of life together- in scripture read, and in all God sends us as guidance, nourishment, and energy for faithfully putting life in order.

And so I invite us all to listen again once more to this passage from 2nd Corinthians:

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Cor 13:11

Put things in order. These words from the apostle Paul offer good guidance for you, I imagine, at this moment in the life of Bethany. Soon you welcome your new pastor! Blessings to her and her family as they move and settle in, get their feet under them, and blessings to you as you welcome her, open to discovering, learning and following what God is giving you church community for life together, now and in the coming days.

You’ve probably been putting things in order all along in a season of staff change, and maybe have some last minute matters to still put in order , or things to prepare, adjust, repair, mend, restore, complete. Put things in order.

Where is the visitation list? The binder of phone numbers, information about the church and neighborhood? How about tips on a good auto mechanic, counselor, doctor, or places to pick mushrooms? Maybe preparing some meals, or other ways of showing welcome and openness to the new person arriving as your pastor. You meet her part way, as she arrives, settles, and reaches out to begin to get to know you and this place. This all takes time, so I pray for you to receive patience and compassion as the new relationship begins.

And maybe you are also putting your lawn in order. Who does the lawn-care around here? You put in a lot of work, attention and time to tend all this beautiful ground. Trees, playground, raised beds, landscaping, pioneer cemetery, historic site, and of course, a few acres of grass, green grass. When I was here back in April, I enjoyed looking around the grounds. Now, I didn’t find any camas out there, but I read the historical sign about a group of settlers harboring native people against persecution and trumped-up prosecution. I saw hallowed cemetery ground, open to sunlight, growing with grass, flowers and wonderful native ‘garry oaks’.

And I imagined more garry oaks, and native grasses, and camas lilies growing there. I imagined inviting friends and neighbors, reaching out to local tribes, to re-discover together how to put in order a native oak savannah as an honor of this place and those whose lives throughout time are part of it.

Now my dream for you may not raise any sparks here, but maybe you can accept it as a way to say that God, in whose image and likeness we are made and restored, healed, put in order- God puts things in order for living life.

God gives and God restores an order to places and people, a life-giving pattern of beauty and goodness, beyond any one creatures ability to understand it, but not beyond our ability to be part of its life, its deeper grounds of peace. God goes out, looks and thinks about how to help life grow well here.

I’m not making that up! Just read the scripture. On the third day, God puts in order the earth’s capacity for green growth and seed-bearing:

Then God said, “Let the earth grow-up with grass, grass with seeds, and every kind of fruit trees whose fruit have seeds.” And so it was. The earth grew up green: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

God puts in order, but to do so, God gets down low, close to the ground, and looks to see the good there. And you and I can also get down close to the ground to look for the good to grow there.

Look…like someone gathering camas bulbs from the oak prairie, who distinguishes the nutritious from the poisonous, the 6-pointed purple-blue flowers yielding not only seeds, but edible bulbs sweet when you roast them.

Look… like a cascade foothill diary farmer looks to assess the pasture and hay, and to just delight in the dewy grass and three-leafed clovers.

*well, these are the allegheny foothills, but this grass feeds dairy cows…*

We all can look… as we sit, stand, get down close to behold the simple grass receive their sacraments of life, drinking sunlight and eating carbon dioxide, turning all this into a gift that energizes the soil, animals, and the whole, very good creation.

And when we get down and look, we are doing what God has made us to do. To get down, get down close with the grass and creatures and see them with the eyes God gives to us as participants in the divine life. We descend, get down low, close to the plants and soil. We don’t master or dominate it. We descend, as John and Jesus and so many disciples went down to the river Jordan. We descend, get down close with the creatures, accept the baptism they offer us, receive the light of Christ they shine for us.

And we are sent out as disciples of that light, that energy, that pattern of life we have been given in faith by a loving God. And day by day thru the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the community of the Holy Spirit we can put it in order a place for life where we are, at home, at church, on the ground where we are given to be for a time.

Wild Indigo Guild 2/3/26 Wild Indigo Guild 2/3/26

Expanding Our Reach

Wild Indigo Guild in Olympia, WA

For many years I’ve worked as a part time director of Garfield Community Farm. Evan and I actually worked together to get the farm started way back in 2008. The farm is a place based non-profit, committed to one neighborhood and three acres of land and the people who visit these three acres. Wild Indigo Guild is our work to expand the message and work of growing food, caring for land and seeing God’s creation restored through communities of faithfulness. Instead of one locale we have many, instead of one community we work with many.

This month we were involved in a retreat with several Episcopal churches spread up and down the Puget Sound in Washington State. All of these churches are developing new plans to work together to bring about restoration on their communally owned land. Until now almost all of our work has been in the Allegheny plateau where Pittsburgh is rooted. We’re expanding our reach!

We had a wonderful time discussing ideas and sharing our experience here in Pittsburgh with these folks of the Diocese of Olympia. As we worked together to dream of new ways that a Centre Guild might form in the future and how individual churches could partner to bring about more positive change we also reveled in the goodness of Creation along the waters and foothills of the Olympic mountains. We hiked through a second growth forest. We ate a wonderful meal together. And we all learned from each other. As the work restoration continues in communities across western WA, we hope to be helpful partners.

Not only did we learn from each other, Evan and I (John) took time to plan for the year to come. We also took time to explore quite a bit, learning from the ancient wisdom of this beautiful place. While on a hike in the foothills just south of Olympic National Park we found so many wild and native plants growing together, many that much to share in way of human food and even more habitat for wild creatures.